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A statement made by the minister designate for the Greater Accra Region, Nii Laryea Afotey-Agbo, on July 12, 2012 which suggested that he supported the use of motorbikes for commercial purposes, a practice popularly called Okada, came back to haunt him when he appeared before the Appointment�s Committee of Parliament Monday. Mr Agbo, in an interview with the Daily Graphic on the said date, noted that the operation of Okada had created job opportunities for the youth and brought down criminal activities and suggested that the business should be regularised and operators given the needed education, in view of the services they were rendering to the public. That statement was in sharp contrast to the position of the government which was against the operation of Okada and which had passed a law against the practice. During his appearance before the committee Monday, Afotey-Agbo, who appeared subdued after being bombarded with questions on the statement he made, came out with an alibi: �I did it to reduce tension among the agitated youth.� For more than 34 minutes, members of the committee sought to know why, as a minister of state and part of the ruling government, he made statements that contradicted the position of the same government in which he served. He replied that some agitated youth had accosted him during a duty tour in the region about the government�s stance on Okada and in order to calm them down, he made those statements and subsequently repeated them in interviews with the media. �It was not because I was against the law,� he said in an obvious �U-turn� and added that he was not even aware that a law was in place. He said soon after making those statements, word came to him that the operators of Okada appeared emboldened and were carrying out their business without crash helmets, a situation which led him to liaise with the law enforcement agencies to �let the law take its course.� �I am prepared to assist the police to enforce any law in Ghana,� he added Although Mr Afotey-Agbo appeared before a committee whose members were all part of the majority in Parliament to which he belonged, the members took him on for that statement, a situation which made him visibly uncomfortable. Delving into other issues, the committee sought to know from the nominee how he would address the menace of lang guards in the region, solve the chieftaincy disputes and assist the Accra Metropolitan Assembly to deal with the tons of garbage generated in the capital daily. He said he would seek the assistance of the police to arrest land guards, and if the police were incapable, he would invite the military for help. According to him, he had lived in a palace most of his life and, therefore, had an insight into chieftaincy which he would bring to bear on negotiations between feuding parties. He said the rare insight into chieftaincy and skill he possessed was partly responsible for the relative peace and quiet that the region witnessed when he was appointed regional minister in the last administration. On the garbage situation, Mr Afotey-Agbo, said discussions were ongoing between some chiefs in the region and himself for the release of lands for garbage disposal.